Soccer Game Preview: St. Francis vs. Nichols

The St. Francis Red Raiders will head out to square off against the Nichols Vikings at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Neither team made it on the board the last time they hit the pitch, so they've probably got a bit of extra motivation.

St. Francis is likely headed into the matchup with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against St. Mary's on Tuesday. The Red Raiders fell 3-1 to the Lancers. St. Francis haven't had much luck with St. Mary's recently, as the team has come up short the last five times they've met.

Meanwhile, Monday just wasn't the day for Nichols' offense. They lost 8-0 to Canisius on Monday. While losing is never fun, Nichols can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New York soccer rankings (they are ranked 202nd, while Canisius are ranked 13th).

St. Francis' defeat dropped their record down to 5-9. As for Nichols, they now have a losing record of 5-6-1.

St. Francis suffered a grim 7-3 defeat to Nichols when the teams last played back in September. Can the Red Raiders avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.